The present invention generally relates to the storage, preservation, and testing of living eye tissues, and more particularly to a system for maintaining eye tissues in a living state over extended periods of time for testing purposes.
The development of new cosmetics, drugs, and other chemical products requires that these materials be extensively tested before public introduction. Specifically, the materials must be tested to determine if they produce any adverse reactions during contact with human tissues. This is especially important with respect to eye tissues (e.g. the transparent portion of the eye known as the cornea). Cosmetics and other chemical products which potentially come in contact with eye tissues during normal use must be thoroughly tested to ensure a sufficient degree of safety.
Current testing procedures involving cosmetics, chemicals, and eye tissues require the use of live animal subjects. These in vivo procedures are the subject of considerable controversy since they often involve direct physical damage to the eye tissues in a live, unanesthetized animal. A difficult conflict therefore exists between the need to conduct vital precautionary research, and the prevention of cruelty to animals. The present invention eliminates this conflict, and involves an apparatus which enables living eye tissues to be preserved in vitro and tested without the use of live animal subjects. Specifically, the apparatus comprises an in vitro system which allows the preservation and simultaneous testing of eye tissues from swine, sheep, rabbit, or bovine specimens obtained from meat processing plants and the like. In addition, the apparatus may also be used to preserve and test human eye tissues which become available during surgical procedures, or which have been rejected for human transplantation. By preserving and testing eye tissues from non-living subjects, the need for live animal testing is substantially eliminated. The present invention therefore represents an advance in the art of tissue preservation/testing and offers numerous benefits, as described in detail below.